COUNTRIES OF GOODS: The first construction workers from India arrived in Croatia! 'This is the realization of our dreams!'

Neither the masters from Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina are no longer overly interesting - they are staying short of Croatia and we are just a transit station for Western Europe

Somewhere a year ago, Igor Staraja, a construction entrepreneur from Opatija, called a colleague on whose construction site the problem came up. In the midst of the concreting, two of his workers wound up and one lost his nerves and suddenly got home. He did not have anyone to put cement into the mixer, and the job was supposed to be completed by the end of the day. Although Stara's specialty was electrical work, he rushed to his colleague and sent him to the rescue of one of his workers.

They later commented on the problems with which, almost all construction companies in Croatia have been meeting regularly in the last two years. Croatian masters builders massively go to the West, Ireland and Germany.

Neither the masters from Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina are no longer overly interesting - they are staying short of Croatia and we are just a transit station for Western Europe. Entrepreneurs are condemned to unprofessional workforce that easily abandons the building and gives away, sometimes even after just a few days on the site, to auxiliary workers who are not qualified to perform masters' jobs. Starajev's colleague then pronounced a sentence that would long for the Opatija entrepreneur in the head: "To see just how the Indians work. Welcome to us here. "

The husband came home with the idea: 'We're going to bring the workers from India'. I just said, 'Good,' she sat down on the computer and started exploring. I was a 'Indian worker', an 'Indian culture', and so on. I have found that a lot of Indian workers work in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. After a few months we contacted a company in India, headquartered in Mumbai, which has been engaged in the export of Indian labor to foreign markets for 43 years. It's called Sterling Technical Stuffing LTD. They became our partners, signed an exclusive contract for Croatia and Europe and, here, the first workers arrived - says Jasna Staraj, a co-owner of Inflow. who, the first in Croatia, hired five Indies builders.

Participated in major projects

Armies, carpenters, knaufers, electricians ... These are all the jobs we could not find Croatian workers. We've been competing through the CES, but in vain. We have a few workers who have been with us for years, but there is more work and less and less workforce. We never went to work, but we realized that there could be problems. We had to do something and the solution was really in the last hour - says Jasna Staraj.

Jasna and Igor have Inflow together with Slovak partner Miroslav Hricem. Igor has been in the building for 20 years, and have participated in well-known construction projects, such as the construction of the Cultural Center Drago Gervais in Opatija, POS's hostels at the hosts, the halls in Matulji, Interspara on Kastva, the kindergarten in Opatija ... Lani have thrown themselves into solving paperwork for Indian labor, and the first masters are already here.

All praise to the Police Department of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, our Embassy in India, New Delhi and ML Legal and Lukšić Kokic's lawyer, all worked brilliantly together and work permits were made. The owners of our partner company from Mumbai came for the New Year for the first time in Croatia. Twenty days ago, we found ourselves in Italy, we had friends, ours and their families. For now there are five workers out of India, five have visas and they arrive in 10 to 15 days, we have obtained 21 work permits, and more than forty are in process. Our first plan is to bring about a hundred workers from India, and then, if necessary, it can be expanded - Jasna Staraj told us.

Inflow is a company that employs Indians and is doing co-operative affairs for now with GP Krk, whose construction site at the 5th Rock of India has started to work. The stevedores provided them with accommodation, a three-seater shared bathroom of 190 square meters in Clan, in the hinterland of Opatija. Although they arrived just last week, Jasna says that the inhabitants of Klan have taken great care of them.

Fear the Croatian national team

On Saturday, together with local residents, they watched the match in the cafe and braved the Croatian national team. They got the jerseys and immediately became Croatian fans, although football is not their sport. They all follow cricket. The first words learned by a gentleman in the Clan are 'Forza Fiume!' They are very pleased. The gentleman and lady in whose apartment they reside have exploited their behavior, people in the cafe associate with them. They agreed to watch the match again on Wednesday. Otherwise, they heard about Croatia for the first time, they did not even know that Croatia was there. Very little idea about Europe at all, they know about Rome, Paris, France, and that's more or less. They say that coming to Europe was their dream now. When they were told to go to Europe, they could not believe it - says Jasna Staraj.

We visited them on their first working day at the Luke Rijeka warehouse building in Škrljev, where the works were run by GP Krk. Indian workers agree iron structures for reinforced concrete, and their boss Dejan Ignjic says they are incredibly valuable and precise. The first working day was a kind of attraction at the site, the other workers came to meet and photograph, so it was a bit embarrassing for the Indians.

As soon as we arrived, Manickam Jegadeesan approached us and said that Croatia was wonderful and that the job was great.

This was my dream, it's a pleasure to be here. It's too good. And it's cold, not like in Dubai , "he said.

Two of them have wives and children.

Families are overwhelming to us - they say.

Jasna Staraj bought them cell phones so they can hear with theirs and arrange them to deliver a vegetarian lunch on the construction site.

Extreme conditions Indians say that food is excellent as well as accommodation. Although they do not speak, working conditions for Indian workers in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, or Qatar are far worse than in Croatia, where many documentaries and newspaper articles exist. There they are located in barracks and work at extreme temperatures.

'Doing Everything'

Although Jasna Staraj did not reveal what their salary is, she says it is in the rank of average Croatian wages in the building. The Indians, according to her, work on average hours of work, eight hours a day.

They're awesome. They told me their dreams had come true. They say, 'This is my company, I'll work for my company' - This is my company, I will work for my company. This is their philosophy. They are doing their best, "says Jasna Staraj.

If at some point there is no specific job, they are waiting for a new task to be entrusted to them.

I wanted to add material to them, but they immediately jumped up and took it myself. They do not give me anything to do physically beside them - says their manager Ignjic.

Naturally, in view of such a work ethic, they immediately gained sympathy for all on the construction site.

Jasna Staraj says that India's labor force imports a win-win situation, both for Croatian workers, both for Indians and for domestic employers.

No one can say that they are taking jobs because these jobs simply can not be filled up. The offer is bigger than demand. They are overwhelmed, their wages are good, their working conditions are good, their accommodation is good, in Europe they have the opportunity to work and feed their families. Our workers are now more relieved, they can switch to management affairs. We, too, have enough workers for new projects, we can all come in time, contract more jobs - says Jasna Staraj.

He adds that all this is a great advertisement for Croatia - India is a huge country and it is good for Indians to have the feeling that Croatia is at all existent and part of Europe.

Her husband Igor believes this is just the beginning.

- Already when you go to Italy, you will see that all jobs, both in construction and in service, are made by Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshans, Filipinos ... For two years now, we have a huge problem with a lack of labor. I'm sure this is a solution for everyone, Igor Staraj concludes.

• 23 Jun, 2018
• 3880 views